Unrestricted and directed gifts to the laboratory are vital for staffing and the study of specific syndromes and repair techniques. Generous gifts in 2003 and 2004 have allowed the study of various disease areas, including stem cell treatment of tendinitis (bowed tendon) in the horse and Achilles tendon degeneration in man, the use of implantable clotted fibrin for assisted repair of acute cartilage injury, and the use of gene enhanced cartilage cells for joint repair. All three projects examined repair techniques in horses with a view to broader application in man. These gifts ranged from $36,000 to $184,000.